Alexander Apóstol and Magdalena Fernández
CIFO exhibits contemporary artists from Venezuela Alexander Apóstol and Magdalena Fernández.
(Miami, April 2006) The Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation will exhibit Alexander Apóstol: Savage Modern/ Moderno Salvaje and Magdalena Fernández: Surfaces/Superficies, May 13-June 18, 2006 at the foundation’s new art space located at 1801 North Miami Avenue.
The first two exhibitions for CIFO’s new Commissions Program, Savage Modern and Surfaces highlight the artwork of these two multifaceted artists, both of Venezuelan descent, and feature recent installation, photography and video, including newly-created pieces never before exhibited in the US. In what is both artists first solo show in Miami, the two exhibitions are juxtaposed in the art space to create a dialogue between their two diametrically opposed developments of their common narrative: modernity and modernism.
Alexander Apóstols work, comprised of photography series and video pieces, questions the development of modernity in his native Venezuelawhich extrapolates into a general questioning of a universal idea of modernity, creating a dialectic between the modern and a reality that contradicts this idea. He accomplishes this by revealing a paradoxical reality where he finds contradicting forces at play by digitally manipulating photographs in both his Residente Pulido and Residente Pulido:Ranchos series and by creating real video situations, such as the pieces Don Carlos and Documental, where the question of Venezuelas dreams of modernity ever having been accomplished is poignantly asked. The majority of the series of photographs and all of the video pieces will be seen for the first time in the US in this exhibition.
Magdalena Fernándezs art stems from the Venezuelan mid-century modern movements of Geometric Abstraction and Kinetic Art. She has developed a unique, sensitive, abstract body of work. Surfaces/Superficies highlights recent and newly created video pieces, sensorial compositions of geometric shapes altered, molded, by elements such as water, sound, and light. Producing installation pieces specifically for this exhibition, Fernández creates experiences that involve the viewer by exploring the possibilities of movement and form creating atmospheres through light and geometric shapes. Using materials such as fiber-optic and neon cables, her installations, such as 1em006 and 2em006, test the viewers perception of rigid surfaces such as the square (or plane) as they become fluid light, to be interacted with.
CIFO is a non-profit organization founded in 2002 by Ella Fontanals Cisneros and her family to foster cultural exchange in the field of visual arts. CIFO aims to support emerging and mid-career contemporary, multidisciplinary artists from Latin America, whose work challenges established boundaries and categories defining contemporary art today. As part of the commissions program, each year two to four mid-career artists will be selected and given a solo show at CIFO. In addition, CIFOs Grant Program will showcase the work of ten emerging artists in a group show this October 2006. “Part of CIFO‘s mission in promoting artists from Latin America is to exhibit the work of artists like Fernández and Apóstol who are at a pivotal stage in their careers where they benefit from more exposure in the US, particularly Miami,” comments Director and Chief Curator, Cecilia Fajardo-Hill.
The exhibition will be open during Wynwood Art Disctrict 2nd Saturdays on May 13, form 7-10pm. Special programming includes a Conversation with the Artists held Tuesday May 16, 2006 from 7-10pm, where Apostol and Fernandez will lead a tour of their respective shows and candidly discuss their work with the audience.
Contact:
Laura Lavernia
llavernia@cifo.org
305.4553385
Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation
5960 SW 57th Avenue
Miami, FL 33143
Or
Manuela Fonseca
mfonseca@efcholdings.com
305.860.0116
Images: ModernoSalvajePareja
Alexander Apóstol Moderno Salvaje, 2005
Video Loop
Approx. 01:00 minute
Magdalena Fernández 1pm006Ara Ararauna, 2006
From the series Mobile Paintings
Video of digital animation with sound
